Medical Center Improves Spanish-Language Services
Monday May 19, 2008
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During the past two years, Rush-Copley Medical Center in Aurora, Ill., has taken several steps to improve Hispanic patients' experiences. The center expanded its interpreter service to a 24-hour program, launched a Spanish version of its website, and started a program to educate women on health issues in their native language.
"There is a great disparity between the size of the Hispanic population and the number of Hispanic RNs in the United States," says Shawn O'Connor Tyrrell, RN, MSN, vice president of nursing services and chief nursing officer at Rush-Copley.
A report by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services states that while Hispanics make up about 15% of the U.S. population, only 1.7% of RNs are Hispanic. The report, titled "The Registered Nurse Population: Findings from the 2004 National Sample Survey of Registered Nurses," reveals all minorities, not only Hispanics, are underrepresented in the nursing profession.
"Our hospital is above the national average because almost 5% of our staff is Spanish speaking," says Tyrrell. "We are focusing on meeting the needs of all patients, regardless of what language they speak."
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, nearly 42% of Aurora's population is Hispanic and 21% of Kane County households speak Spanish as a primary language. To match the area's ethnic makeup, Rush-Copley began a formalized medical interpreter program in 1978 that has expanded several times. For example, last year the program became a 24-hour service.
"We are going to celebrate the program's 30th anniversary this June," says Diane Moreau, BA, BS, director of patient support services and a Spanish interpreter. "We have eight full-time interpreters who are able to cover all shifts in the operation of the hospital."
Moreau's interpreters see 75 to 80 patients a day, and they spend 30 minutes on average with each patient; however, sessions easily can be two or three hours long.
"The area where the most help is needed is triage and the ER," she says. "Clear communication is very important, especially if the patient is in pain. The faster we gather information on the patients' conditions, the faster we can give them the care they need."
The other area where interpreters are in high need is during patient discharge.
"Discharging a patient can easily take an hour and a half, and the interpreters are present to make sure patients understand every detail about their condition and what they need to do after leaving the hospital," says Moreau. "It's much better to have the interpreter in the room because teaching or demonstrating something over the phone is very difficult. We can't ignore the importance of nonverbal communication, either."
Raquel Helling, RNC, who works in the mother-baby unit of the hospital, says she is glad she can communicate with patients in their native language.
"When they find out I speak Spanish, they immediately switch to it," she says.
Helling grew up in Mexico but acquired her nursing degree in the U.S. She is not a certified interpreter, but she passed the hospital's language test, which qualified her to communicate in Spanish with patients in her area.
"I talk to mothers about taking care of their babies, but sometimes even a little thing like being able to talk about what they want for lunch makes a huge difference for them," Helling says. "I worked at the ER as a nursing student, and I saw that the presence of the interpreters is essential."
The hospital continues to search for ways to provide information to its Spanish patients. Two years ago, the center launched the Spanish-language version of its website. The hospital also started a Spanish-language health education program called Latina Talks. In this program, Hispanic women meet once a month to get information and discuss health issues, such as menopause, diabetes, nutrition, and healthy aging. The meetings are conducted entirely in Spanish and attract about 30 attendees who travel from as far as Elgin, Oswego, and Naperville.
"Their need to be able to talk about health issues in Spanish is evident," says Zaida Chapa, community relations coordinator at the hospital. "On the diabetes session we had in March, one of the women said she had talked to her doctor about diabetes in English, but she still did not know what type of diabetes she had."
The sessions cover chronic conditions that are more common in the Hispanic population, such as diabetes and high blood pressure, and organizers are always looking for ways to extend Hispanic services. For example, one of the participants suggested starting a support group for Hispanic women who are dealing with depression.
"We are evaluating how we could offer something like that for the community," says Chapa. "Talking about depression can be difficult, so we would love to make it easier for these women to at least talk about it in their own language."
Tamas Horvath is a freelance writer. To comment, e-mail editorIL@nursingspectrum.com.
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